1. Unlike the polls, these rankings do not
reward teams for running up scores. Teams are rewarded
for beating quality opponents, which is the object of the game.
Posting large margins of victory, which is not the object of the game, is not
considered.

2. Unlike the polls, these rankings do not prejudge teams.
These rankings first appear after the season's fifth week, and
each team's ranking reflects its actual accomplishments — on the
field, to date — not its perceived potential.

3. These rankings compute the most accurate strength of schedule
ratings. Each team's opponents and opponents' opponents
are judged not only by their won-lost records but also, uniquely,
by their conferences' strength (see #4).

4. These rankings provide the most accurate conference ratings.
Each conference is rated according to its non-conference won-lost
record and the difficulty of its non-conference schedule.